And really, it could have been worse. It could have been someone's wedding cake...

..and the paper could have been so thick that the caterers couldn't cut through it, resulting in messy globs of red velvet cake which they had to scoop onto plates to serve. And it could have cost $500.

Yep, that would definitely have been worse. Right, Stacey F.?

(Sorry I don't have a pic of the inside - but then, the outside's not so great either, is it?)

So, my dear Wreckies, the next time you're in the market for a cake, remember: looks aren't everything. Oh, and if you're in need of some craft supplies, you might just get lucky. (Fingers crossed!)

Poor Stacey re: that wedding cake. Personal experience makes me suspect I know the bakery that catered to her special day, but what are the odds of THAT? Pretty good odds, probably, since the attitude I got for my own troubles was, "This cake is expensive! Therefore it is FABULOUS!" Nevermind the only aspect they even came close on was using the right filling. One day, I'll get a protest group together and go stand outside that guy's shop, I swear.

Is the scissors like the king cake? When you find the baby jesus, you're supposed to have good luck that year? when you find the scissors, you're going to cut someone?

About the paper.. something like that happened do my dad once when he did catering. The brides aunt made the cake... in Hawaii... and brought it with her. BEAUTIFUL cake. But because it was traveling from Hawaii... to New Jersey... she used ROYAL. ICING. They used the turkey carver to cut the cake..

I made my niece's 1st birthday cake and very nearly made the smash cake with a Wilton flower nail stuck inside (I had unknowingly set the cake on top of the nail on the cutting board). I did find it before I iced the cake, but I could just imagine if the baby had reached into her cake and pulled out a metal spike!

My parents' wedding cake had not parchment paper but a layer of think cardboard between the top of the cake and the icing. Apparently it was quite comical watching them try to cut through the cardboard. Unfortunately I've never seen pictures, only heard the story.

Too bad I don't have pictures. My wedding cake had cardboard *under* the fondant to provide structural support for the upper layers rather than countersunk dowels. Of course the cake fell over. And of course the baker maintained that it wasn't his fault.

The ones with the parchment paper remind me of something in the Good Eats episode about the coconut cake. Alton brown is putting together the coconut layer cake and as he pulls off the parchment he make a yuck face then says, "never forget to take that off...ever." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LG1SC1avp0Q&feature=related

On the subject of a King Cake, they are suppose to have something hidden inside them so that isn't really that bad. If you are expecting the plastic baby inside it means you won't usually end up eating it my mistake. A pair of scissors inside a cake is much more worrisome. Not only is it not likely to be clean it is also sharp.

The top cake was my birthday cake from a year ago. And while it might seem like all that icing was great, it wasn't. The cake underneath it wasn't cooked properly. No amount of icing can make up for that...

A shop I worked at for a short time tried to pull the same tactic as cake #1. It was some young chick that didn't care, until I called in three other people to look at what she was doing and then she finally had the grace to admit it was awful.

As far as the scissors cake, I would have kept the scissors in the cake for the photo, and then photographed the scissor-shaped impression that they left in the cake. I can't believe the store tried to say she was lying. She should blow up that photo and stand next to their bakery counter.

I wish I had taken a picture of the grocery-store cake we had last week. Its wreckage would have fit in perfectly here. This abomination was iced in BOTH whipped topping (the bain of my cake-loving existence) THEN butter cream! You're not fooling me, RITE-SHOP (some names have been changed to product the guilty). Just to verify this wreckage, I checked the packaging. There is a distinctive 'Buttercream' sticker on the top, clearly an afterthought. BUT on the side, the actual bakery tag said "Marble Whipped" which had been conveniently partially covered by the PAID sticker.I could tell by just looking at the slice I had that the icing was a WRECK! RUINED buttercream!! gah-ross.

I made a totally unprofessional-looking cake for my daughter's birthday a couple of weeks ago, but that's okay, since I don't claim to be a professional. But I DID almost leave the parchment pan liner on the bottom of the cake layer--fortunately my husband was helping me assemble the layers and noticed before we plopped it onto the frosted/filled bottom piece. So I can totally see how that might happen. I must say, though, the cake tasted very yummy and the 9-year old girls loved that it was totally encased in sprinkles!

"B. F. D. said...The top cake was my birthday cake from a year ago. And while it might seem like all that icing was great, it wasn't. The cake underneath it wasn't cooked properly. No amount of icing can make up for that..."

I really feel for you there. Man that 'cake' doesn't look like it would have made a good pancake. In fact I've seen pancakes thicker then it! That is terrible that they tried to sell you a cake that fell in the oven! That is just inexcusable.

Last Friday I actually took part in preventing a cake wreck. I was at the supermarket getting something else at the bakery when a woman asked to have something written on the cake. The person at the bakery(it was after 7) was not the cake decorator and didn't actually do the writing on the cake but handed the woman the piping bag to write what she wanted on the cake herself. She was struggling to even hold the bag right to get the frasting to even come out let alone write on the cake. I came over and offered to help and when I picked up the bag and gave it a quick twist and started writning the looked at me and asked. "how can you do that so easily?" I replied, "Lots of practice." I wrote what she wanted on the cake very neatly and with a smile she was on her way and I went back to my business(getting cake boards to put the cakes I make myself on)

So here is a really good tip cake lovers, don't go to get the cake late in the day as no one actually competent is going to be there.

My mom and I once made a cake that was intentionally inedible. The birthday was for the only man in her office and he was a National Guard Reservist on some weekends. We took a 3 inch thick piece of couch cushion foam the size of a sheet cake and frosted it. It was all in camo with a river through the middle and little plastic army guys fighting their way across the cake (we cut one in half to make him look like he was swimming across the river). It was lovely! Took it to work, lit the candles, samg happy birthday (with bagpipe accompaniment), then handed him the knife to cut the cake. He put the knife in and tried to cut down, and it just went ::sproing:: and popped right back up. He looks around at all of us smiling, says "heh heh.." like he meant to do that, and tries again. He took several stabs at it before scraping back some of the icing and realizing that he had been HAD. We all laughed and brought out a real cake. He refused to even try cutting it. Sometimes a horrible cake can be really funny!

Ah, this reminds me of a birthday where I was visiting family in Florida and they always got their cakes and things from this fantastic bakery. Every time I had tried the really good fudge cake before, it was fantastic and so since we were visiting for my birthday that's what they got me.

It was all fine and good until we discovered a layer of parchment paper just underneath the chocolate icing. Talk about a messy ordeal.

On my Mother's 50'th birthday I couldn't find the time to bake her a cake so I went to the bakery and ordered one. When we cut it open, there was a HUGE bubble in the cake, making a chasm the size of two fists. I took a picture and bought it with me to the bakery and requested they give me 30% of the money back for the missing cake I didn't receive though I paid for. They didn't give me any money back, but I did get a free CCC of my choice. Bastards.

I guess I would ask where in the cake the scissors are. It looks like there was some sort of filling in the bottom and maybe that's where it was? If it was in the top layer I can see why the bakery might thing they came in after it left the store. I used to work in a bakery and we didn't even have scissors in the area for most of my stint there. If you wanted to open something you used a knife. Maybe that's what happened to them.

Also @Dan ; late in the evening is no excuse. I worked night shift at a bakery and my very first night the trainer pulled out a piece of parchment paper and a bag of icing and had me writing things out (including proper spellings!). Our decorator also only printed on any cake going for general display so we could personalize it without to obvious a change in handwriting. Now my sister works at that store and I've told her if they ever have a problem like that call me and I will drive up there.

the wedding cake wreck reminded me of one that happened when i worked in a bakery (bread slicer and putting the rolls in the bags).

the bridezilla wanted a wedding cake. no problem, pick out a design. oh no, she wanted a full assemble-on-site cake...with pound cake.

you cant do a cake with the pretty little columns with POUND cake, its too heavy, it will collapse. no, it must be lemon pound cake, its the brides favorite. perhaps a small decorated one on the side? no, she DEMANDED in LOUD words that it must be pound cake.

the store manager (yay kroger) insisted that the bakery sell her what she wanted. the bakery manager insisted that the bridezilla sign a waver saying in VERY clear language that the bakery took no responsibility WHEN the cake collapsed, as this was advised against by the staff. bridezilla signed it smugly, saying that they were WRONG.

the cake was made, and frosted. the mother of the bride picked it up and was shown how to assemble the cake on site.

the day after the wedding, the bride brought a box of...smashed cake into the bakery, and polaroids of the collapsed cake and demanded DEMANDED that she be refunded her money PLUS damages.

the store manager was all for the refund till he heard that she had signed a waiver. and that the bakery refused to take the hit in the sales for that day, because they were following HIS orders.

bye bye bride. no moneys for you. and maybe next time you LISTEN when someone tells you "that wont work".

My mom tried to call in a birthday cake order last weekend at our local Giant. She only got as far as saying "yellow cake". The nitwit in the bakery dept said she only had white icing, but if mom wanted yellow she could try to spray it. Mom hung up the phone. I would have said OK, just to see what I'd actually get.

I can't believe someone would pay 500 bucks for a lopsided wedding cake. I would have gone bridezilla on that baker lol. And scissors in a birthday cake? What on earth are these people thinking? Did they not go "I wonder where my scissors are?" or just shrug and hope no one would notice.. man now I really think I should bake my own cake.

My friend ordered me a birthday cake last July from a local bakery. It was actually quite pretty, if simple... Black and red icing roses and a large coffin. Why? My friend asked if they could make a Jigglypuff cake (yes, the Pokemon) but when he got the price quote for that he decided it wasn't worth it and so he opted for a funeral themed cake. Ah... My friends are amazing.

Anyway. After a lovely dinner we cut into it and.... Found we'd gotten a marble cake. Marbled with mold. Green and blue mold. All through it.

The worst part? The bakery was unapologetic and refused to admit they'd used something that was, frankly, not exactly fresh. They wouldn't even refund it. And this wasn't a shady place (well ok, it is now)... They're pretty well liked around here but I have not been back since.

As a former cake decorator, I will say that in my bakery we used scissors quite often for quite a few things, from cutting tip bags to placing roses on cakes and some other little things. They were only used for those specific purposes, and were cleaned everyday the same as all the other tools we used. It's totally unacceptable that it was in the cake, and so wrong on so many levels, but they are pretty common in some bakerys...

This reminds me of my own wedding cake. My husband's aunt made the cake and the bottom tier broke in transit from VA to NC. She iced and decorated a Styrofoam round and warned the caterers. I guess they didn't listen because half of our guests were served Styrofoam cake.

I used to work for a large bakery in New Mexico and a customer returned a loaf of bread that had a mouse baked into it. We didn't acccuse her of planting the mouse, but very quickly refunded her money and prayed she wouldn't sue.

Our office got a cake for a baby shower, and it was an enormous layered sheet cake. Imagine our surprise when the cake cutter's knife got stuck on what turned out to be a foot-long, wooden spatula/spoon. I believe our next shower cake was free :)

i am a cake decorator & worked at kmart's bakery. decorators use scissors to take the flowers off the flower nails & place on the cake. we used much smaller scissors than what was in that one cake though. that just blows my mind that they were in that cake. scissors do sit very close to a cake when being decorated but it is amazing that they were in the cake. our cake came pre made & frozen & we cut the 1/2 sheets down to whatever size we needed so scissors could never go any further than the icing which would have been very noticeable. most likely those scissors were used to open a bag of mix or something & probably fell into the cake batter or in the pan before it went into the oven. it would have sunk very fast in the batter.

on another note of the paper being left on. i was training a newbie & our cakes got flipped out of the box frozen onto the board & the paper needed to be peeled off the bottom which then became the top. it was very noticeable, well so we thought. the newbie was left to base ice cakes & the next day i came in to find a cake that was brought back. it was a church function & she apparently didnt peel the paper off the 1/4 sheet cake & it was iced & decorated. when they tried to cut into it, the entire surface of the cake's icing went down into the crack with the knife. they were given a refund fully & she got yelled at of course. she didnt last long.

if you sit & think of the horrors that could be happening to your food in the service industry, you would never eat again. from the factory making foods to the cooks & servers, anything could be happening to it!

I remember the horror on my 10th birthday, opening the cake box to find a bright shiny red Lee Press On Fingernail sitting on top of my cake like some nasty and obscene cake topper. When we made our way back to the store to return it, the girl claimed that we put it there ourselves. (even though she had a suspicious bandage on one of her fingers, and the other 9 were covered with long red lee press on claws.)

Ok in defense of bakers scissors are around bakeries a lot as you are constantly cutting parchment paper to line cake pans (of course many bakers are lucky enough to have slaves---er I mean prep staff to do that for them).

And if you use a lot of plastic flotsam you probably use scissors for that.

Also sometimes for doilies and other decorations one might normally have on or near a cake, or other desserts

Scissors are also used for opening huge bags of flour, sugar, etc. Anyway there were always scissors.

But that is NOT and excuse for dropping them into cake batter and not noticing!

ahhh yes. The extra icing on a cake. It's how my grandmother would try and cover the fact that she had burned the cake because she had been yapping on the phone or with the neighbour too long to realize it was time to take it out. Slap on extra icing and no one will be the wiser? yeah...

Recovery Actor, what's wrong with Royal icing on a wedding cake? That's traditional over here. I do question what you'd have to do to the icing to make it uncuttable. I mean, you'd have to make it super viscous and layer it on very thickly. Had she put a layer of marzipan under the icing, or just tried to do it /all/ in icing? Had she added any lemon juice or glycerin?

I just don't see how this would happen. Unless American knives are generally very small and weak.

Our wedding cake had cardboard right under the icing ...we went to cut the cake together and couldn't do it. Funniest part is that wedding coordinator (who did not order the cake) knew exactly what the problem was and what to do about it (she told us to cut under the cardboard)...so she had obviously seen this happen before!

Actually, that's not the funniest part. The funniest part is when, which trying to remove the top tier, the person who was moving it lost their balance. The top tier went flying and was caught deftly in mid air by our best man, to which my husband replied "The force is strong with this one" (their "bachelor party" was going to see Star Wars Episode I so that was perfect)

I can't believe the store had the nerve to accuse the patron of planting the scissors herself!! (Tacky!!)

Being a cake decorator myself, as soon as I saw the picture I knew they belonged to whoever made the cake. I have a couple of pairs of those same "school scissors" and use them for taking icing roses off the nail and placing them onto the cake.

My husband and I had a military wedding and used his sword to cut the first piece of cake. I have a picture of me with a grimace on my face as we tried to cut the cake. We discovered that the baker put a hard plastic support on the layer and iced over it. We were trying to cut through a quarter inch piece of plastic! Ultimately we cut below the plastic and people got pieces of cake without icing on the top.

Susan, that's actually the RIGHT way to make a layer cake: the plastic supports the next layer (or the cake topper if it's the uppermost layer), and small wooden dowels inside the cake itself support the plastic. (I do hope you're exaggerating about the quarter-inch, though; usually they're quite a bit thinner than that.)

The person who made the cake should have either told you this or not covered the plastic completely with frosting, though. (An exceptionally nice caterer, like my mom, would have given you an extra tub of frosting to touch up the cake after removing the plastic support).

I feel bad now for all the times ive used icing to even out a cake thats gone a bit wonky.... Also for the times when my cupcakes are a tad burnt but the icing hides it. At least i dont charge for my cakes. My friends and family get to enjoy my wonderful creations for free and theyre only a choking hazard to those with dairy allergies. Katherine S

Omg I know another bakery that left scissors in the cake and then one time when someone was ordering a cake they asked what type of filling they had, when told of the fillings they asked if they also had scissor filling.. haha

Joining the party a bit late, but did the scissor baker get a job as a doctor?

About 15 years ago an Uncle of mine went in for some gastric surgery. About 3-4 months after the successful surgery he went back complaining of severe cramps. Well, lo and behold, yep you guessed it, they found a pair of surgical scissors inside him. They showed up like a bright Christmas tree on a dark night inside him. Needless to say, they were scrambling to have him not sue them. Lucky for them, he was a nice guy and did not sue but I've often wondered with so many people how that would even be possible. Now I know there are unemployed bakers becoming doctors. eeegaad!

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A Cake Wreck is any cake that is unintentionally sad, silly, creepy, inappropriate - you name it. A Wreck is not necessarily a poorly-made cake; it's simply one I find funny, for any of a number of reasons. Anyone who has ever smeared frosting on a baked good has made a Wreck at one time or another, so I'm not here to vilify decorators: Cake Wrecks is just about finding the funny in unexpected, sugar-filled places.

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